The present invention generally relates to a skylight system for bringing natural daylight into buildings and more particularly to tubular skylights, sometimes referred to as “tubular daylighting devices,” which use a light tube or pipe for transmitting daylight captured by a skylight on a roof structure down to another region of the building where it is emitted, such as through a false ceiling, into a living space within the building.
Tubular skylight devices are well known and have long been used for bringing daylight down into the interior of buildings having false ceilings. One common problem is that other equipment may create an obstruction in the ceiling space between the roof and ceiling that prevents connecting the light-gathering skylight to a light-emitting panel in a false ceiling using a straight shaft. Under such conditions, a shaft having one or more bends may be constructed from several straight and angle shaft sections in order to avoid the obstruction. Connecting the several sections of the shaft can be cumbersome and require tooling, and the resultant interconnected sections can often wind up being joined at an undesirable angle causing light loss between the skylight and ceiling panel.
A related problem associated with skylight shafts having one or more bends is light loss. The typical skylight lens sends collimated light into the skylight shaft. As the number of angles in the shaft increases, the percentage of light that reaches the ceiling panel decreases. Therefore, light shaft sections that are intended to be connected in linear alignment, but are instead bent, contribute to light loss.
Another problem caused by skylight shafts having bends is that the light falling on the ceiling panels can be uneven and create undesirable regions of contrasting light and dark brightness such as bright spots and shaded regions.
An additional problem in prior art skylight systems is that the lower lens assembly may be comprised of a number of pieces which may be difficult to disassemble to gain access to the lens for cleaning, cumbersome to handle, and challenging to obtain a tight seal.